Closing Costs

There are certain standard costs associated with closing the sale of a house. These fees are split between the buyer and the seller, as spelled out in the sales contract.

Just as your realtor will negotiate the sales contract for you, they will not only work to get the sales price you want, but will also work to limit the number of closing costs for which you will be responsible.

I can explain all the closing costs to you, answering any questions you may have explaining which costs are decreed by law to be yours and which are negotiable. If you are not ready to make a loan application than we can go over closing cost scenerios using our Loan Closing Cost Estimator worksheet. This will give you a good working idea of what your closing cost should be.

Good Faith Estimate

All Buyers will receive a "Good Faith Estimate" of closing costs at the time the loan application is submitted to the lender. The estimate is based on the loan officer's past experience of cost. The GFE has recently been reformed under the Governments RESPA Reform, effective January 1, 2010. Some major changes to the GFE because of the reform include: a property must be identified in order to issue a customer a GFE, many charges on the GFE have a zero tolerance to change- it is now a binding contract NOT just an estimate of fees, and there is a new HUD-1 that is used so that the borrower can compare the original number on the GFE to the final numbers on the HUD-1.

The RESPA Reform intends to help borrowers avoid surprises at closing by placing tolerance levels on all charges for services associated with obtaining the mortgage where the vendor is not borrower selected. The new GFE and HUD-1 were designed for a more thorough explanation and disclosure of key loan terms and settlement charges.